I Got the Big Potato!

 Do not have two differing measures in your house-one large, one small. Deuteronomy 25:14 NIV Bible

My husband and I recently got to-go meals from a place that has large servings. The plan was that we would each get a meal we liked and divide it in half. We would each one half of ours that night, and the other half of the dinner the next night. Since I had gotten out the knife to cut my meal in half, I asked my husband if he'd like me to cut his meal in half, while I was at it, and he did. 

I opened the top of both meals and was delighted to see what a large baked potato they had given me in my meal. I noticed that the baked potato in my husband's meal was a normal sized baked potato. All of sudden, it was like I had hit the jackpot. I had gotten the big potato! For a split second, it crossed my mind to let my husband have the bigger baked potato, and I'd take the smaller one. But just as quickly, I thought of 30 reasons why I should leave it as it was! 

In that brief amount of time, food had become a false god to me again, where it became too important in my life. The Lord showed me many years ago, when food becomes too important, when I'm focused on it, instead of Him, I've lost my focus.  Although there was nothing wrong with having or eating the larger potato, but it became too important to me. I find when I'm truly focused on my relationship with Christ, eating becomes something I do to fuel my body. This just shows me, I need to be prayerful about turning my food, my eating, my stress, and my body over into Christ's very capable hands!

What Seemed Like a Good Deal, May Have Come at Too High a Price!

 Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot- Deuteronomy 2:28 NIV Bible

A younger relative wanted to take me to the newest, biggest grocery store that had recently opened up in our area. When I went in, a displace for discounted walnuts caught my eye. One pound of walnuts sold for $6.95 cents. I decided that I was going to buy and freeze two bags of walnuts. My family member showed me the coupon above it that said that if I bought $15 of their store brand nuts, I could get an additional $3.00 off the price.

I didn't want to buy a third bag of walnuts, because that would mean I was paying almost $21 to get $3.00 off. So, as I walked through the rows, I noticed a display of peanuts in the shell for $1.95. I immediately realized, that if I bought a bag of roasted peanuts without salt, that I prefer for health reasons, I could use the $3.00 coupon and get all of it for a little more than the required coupon price. 

I decided that since I got this wonderful deal, I would treat myself to some peanuts that evening. Although I had a filling dinner, I poured out a heaping bowl of peanuts in the shell to enjoy to celebrate getting this good deal. The thing is, this whole experience brought me back to a point in my life, where food became a false god. I turned to food when I was stressed, worried, or glad, instead of turning to my Lord and Savior. I realized that I was doing the same thing again, without even realizing it! This good deal came at too high a price!

The Pant Legs on My PJ's Seemed Too Tight

 Each is so close to the next, that no air can pass between. Job 41:16 NIV Bible

Although this may seem like a strange Bible Passage to include, it's exactly how my P.J. pant legs felt. This tells me significant things, because since the Lord allowed the loss of 80+ pounds over 30 years ago, I rarely get on a scale. The scale had sort of become a false god in my life. I turned to the scale to tell me if I was good, or if I was bad, like my weight increases or decreases conveyed what type of person I was. I found out that I should have turned to the Lord, God with these concerns, instead of my scale.

So, Christ guides me by things like my pant legs being too tight. This in turn, lets me know that I have not only not been following what the Lord has shown me is good and healthy for my body, but my relationship with my Savior has gotten off keel.

Of all the things, being out of alignment with my relationship with Jesus, is the absolute worst thing, far worse than any weight I may have gained back. It lets me know that I need to apologize for becoming complacent in my relationship with my Savior, and ignored what He showed me about how I had been eating and how I've neglected focusing on Him. Fortunately, when I realize how off-track I've been, the Lord always gladly welcomes me back!

I Was Feeling Sad

 Frustration is better than laughter for the heart, because a sad face is good for the heart. Ecclesiastes 7:3 NIV Bible

I was feeling sad and sorry for myself, every time I've been sitting at my computer, taking off the videos that I had put on the Christian Overeaters Past and Present Blog over the years. One reason it was tedious, because I had 927 posts over the years, and the vast majority of these posts had weight loss videos at the bottom of the posts, and it was time consuming.

The main reason I was feeling sad, is these videos seemed like they were a piece of me, that I was deleting. I would spend lots of time selecting what I thought were potentially empowering videos for viewers. But after finding this Bible verse, I'm not feeling so sad about it. I was trying to think what the Lord might be showing me through all of this. For one thing, I need to be more humble and not think highly of myself, because these didn't define me as a child of God. 

Too many of the videos were causing me to get indexing notices for those pages, where the videos were no longer active on YouTube. The upside of all of this, is by removing all the videos, when they become no longer active, it won't hinder blog viewers from getting the message of how the Lord God, has worked miracles in my life, far beyond any weight loss, and He can in yours. as well.

Am I Really Honest with Myself?

 Use honest scales and honest weights, and honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. Leviticus 19:36 NIV

This Bible passages is primarily talking about using honest, fair measurements when selling things to people, so they don't take advantage of them. But, it still relates to me, in that, when I'm taking portions of food, I know what an honest portion size is, but do I ignore that information?

Am I pleasantly oblivious when I heaping up my plate, and not being honest with myself? Well, the truth be told, I've done this far too many times, and I'm not proud of it. when I'm not being honest with myself, I'm also not being honest with Christ, my Lord and Savior. He loves me just the way I am, heavy or thin, but He knows that food, the thoughts of food and weight loss, became a false god in my life.

I turned to food for comfort, especially when stressed, instead of putting these issues into Christ's very capable hands! Once I started putting my life, my food, my stress, and eating into His hands, my whole life, and my focus on excessive amounts of food changed! Every time, I put invisible blinders on when I'm heaping on food, without taking honest portions, I allowing that food to work a wedge in my relationship with Christ and with myself and my family. I don't want to go slip-sliding back into old eating patterns. When this starts happening in my life, the Lord is very gracious about allowing me to return to Him, and He reminds me when I start to stray again!